Shindig
by neoavian
Summary: Nora H. x Mary-Louise fanfic. Scenes from TVD 7x06. The duo became more involved in Mystic Falls as the Heretics try to restore peace. (On Hiatus)
1. Chapter 1: The Night of Love

**Chapter 1: The Night of Love**

He gestured for her to go over and she obeyed. She silently walked across the decorated ballroom, crossed a long table lined with rows of champagne glasses and approached the suited figure at the doorway. She followed him as he turned and slowly moved towards the kitchen. They walked at a very slow pace and were just about to reach the kitchen doorway when he reached into his suit pocket to retrieve an iphone.

Julian had always been a father figure to Nora, and a very fun loving one at least. When Julian was brought back from the phoenix stone, it was a mix of emotions; mostly happiness but there were some doubts. She wasn't sure whether Julian was the same old and fun Julian whom she knew back then and hence she treated him cordially ever since his return. It didn't take Julian long before he was able to comprehend the concept of Candy Crush and he lined a row of matching candies before returning his new toy into his suit pocket.

"I think this era suits you, Nora."

Though not blood related, Nora held Julian with some respect and treated him as the family's father figure. She spoke and interacted with Julian cordially. When he volunteered to talk to Lily into allowing her to venture beyond Mystic Falls, she was enthralled by the possibility.

"There you are. Guests are arriving. Help me greet them?"

Nora glanced at Mary Louise and that was the last impression she had of her for that hour – Mary Louise in an old fashioned cream coloured dress. Nora kept herself occupied for the hour by greeting guests at the door and spent the evening socializing with the guests, accompanied by a very disrespectfully rude Matt Donovan. She was enthralled by some of the conversations on phones but that didn't catch her attention for long.

Finishing her glass of champagne, Nora casually placed it on the tray of a passing waiter before her eyes searched the ballroom. She was nowhere to be seen but Nora's green eyes soon caught sight of her familiar figure emerging from the hallway corridors, heading towards her. The dress was gorgeous, she was gorgeous. It was a low cut shoulder bearing short dress that Nora had never thought that she would ever wear. Her body curves were perfectly outlined by the fitting short dress and her permed blonde long hair clashed beautifully against her bare shoulder. As she drew nearer, she emitted a shiny radiance that Nora held in awe this evening.

"Mare, did you change? You're..."

Before Nora could finish, Mary Louise's hand gently clasped Nora's cheek and her face neared till their lips touched. Nora closed her eyes and allowed herself to immerse into the moment as her conservative lover guided her. Initially it was a gentle stationary kiss but then it became more intense as Mary Louise's tongue demanded entry into her mouth and she attempted to pry open Nora's lips with moving lips.

Mary Louise's voluptuous lips tasted sweet, like sweet nectar to Nora. She wanted to taste more of her but then the kiss broke as the blonde pulled away. Holding on to Nora's hand, Mary Louise smiled seductively and beckoned Nora to follow as she led her through the hallway and to the stairs.

Though surprised by the sudden display of public affection, Nora understood Mary Louise's hints and her heart throbbed with excitement as a fire was ignited in her. They passed a waiter and a few guests whom Nora had interacted earlier but neither of the duo stopped to make friends. The duo made their way up the stairs and straight into Mary Louise's room.

"Clicked", the lock turned after the door closed behind Nora.

Mary Louise immediately wrapped one of her arms around the waist of Nora and pulled her closer. Gently caressing Nora's cheeks with the other hand, she passionately looked into Nora's eyes before planting a long kiss on the forehead. She gently kissed Nora's nose before their lips locked. The kiss sent a current through Nora's body and the brunette could no longer contain her desire. Nora vampire speed pushed Mary Louise towards the bed and landed on top of her lover, their lips still locked. The blonde countered and spun Nora over, pinning her to the bed, bodies pressed together.

"Nora, I love you."

Nora could never get tired of hearing this love declaration from Mary Louise.

"Mare, I love you too", Nora replied lovingly while looking into Mary Louise's greenish beautiful eyes.

Mary Louise lowered to kiss Nora's lips and the small kisses became more intense till their tongues danced.

"Hmm blood, did Mare feed?" Nora thought to herself as she could taste fresh blood from their kisses.

She slowly worked her way up from underneath the dress Nora wore and threw their dresses and undergarments to the floor beside the bed. Unclasping Nora's bra, Mary Louise massaged her breasts and heard Nora moaned softly. She continued to kiss and worked her way down to lick Nora's sensitive parts till the moans became louder and more rapid.

"Ahhh…Mare..."

"Mare…I won't be able to keep it down anymore…our family…can hear."

Mary Louise merely smirked and continued.

Nora struggled to get the last few words out just as Mary Louise plunged her fingers in. Her fingers thrusted in and out and when it circled inside, Nora moaned loudly. Nora gasped and breathed deeply as she clenched tightly onto Mary Louise's back. She involuntarily rocked her hips in momentum with her fingers till ecstasy hit.

"Ahhhh!" Nora shook uncontrollably as she screamed.

Mary Louise lunged and their lips interlocked again. This time, she felt Mary Louise's tongue down her throat. Nora could feel that Mary Louise was a little different that evening, she was much more forceful and possessive.

Their euphoria was soon interrupted.

" _Tap Tap Tap"_

" _Tap Tap Tap"_

Their kiss broke, Nora gasped and struggled to regain herself as she tried to calm down. Wrapping the blanket around her, she tried to locate her clothes and was just about to get off the bed when Mary Louise pulled Nora back into the bed and back hugged her.

"Mare!" Nora protested cheerily.

"The door!" She pointed towards the direction of the knocks.

"Go away please", Mary Louise shouted across the room in a voice so clear that whoever is on the other side of the door could hear.

" _Tap Tap Tap"_

" _Tap Tap Tap"_

The knocks repeated with the same rhythm just like before.

"Mare, how could you, it's Beau!"

Agitated with Mary Louise's behaviour, Nora freed herself and went to the door with a blanket wrapped around her.

"Clicked", the door opened.

"Beau what's wrong?" Nora asked in a concerned voice when she noticed Beau's unease expression.

Beau pointed to the ground, diagonally below where they stood, and gestured Nora to listen.


	2. Chapter 2: Dance with Me

**Chapter 2: Dance with Me**

"What's going on?"

Beau squinted his eyes and shrugged. She watched as Nora held her palm out and did a few flicks to demand some sort of explanation but Beau replied with a shrugged again. They continued the hand flicks, gestures and more shrugs.

Over time, Nora had learned to communicate with Beau, sometimes even without words. She had somehow created her very own version of sign language and could express her thoughts to Beau. Nora gestured and did some finger signs while Beau smiled.

The duo at the doorway amused her.

"Are we done yet?" she broke the silence.

To Mary Louise, Nora's hand flicks were just a series of arm movements flapping in the air which she could not comprehend but she was surprised that Beau could. She bonded with Beau and understood his moods and habits over the years but most of their conversations were done via a series of Q&A-style-like sessions, where he nodded for a positive answer and shook his head for a negative reply.

She held on to the wrapped bedsheet around her body with one hand and chanted a spell with the other. Nora managed to return Beau a reassuring look before the room door closed.

"Please give us a minute Beau," Mary Louise felt the need to explain as she regretted her harsh words earlier. She didn't mean to be disrespectful to her adoptive brother who had always been supportive of her.

"Your children have no respect for you." Julian's voice echoed in their ear drums.

She managed to grasp the severity of the situation while they were dressing in the room. As she focused her extraordinary hearing abilities, she could catch a mix of noises like body smashing against glass cups, body smashing against glass shelves, windows breaking and plates shattering.

They sped across the corridor towards the stairs.

"That pretty much sums up who we will be dealing with." Mary Louise remarked.

"So what's the plan?" Nora asked casually as she followed her down the stairs.

Before she could answer, they came across a motionless drunkard. So drunk was he that he laid face flat on the stair steps. He conveniently obstructed their path and provided no clear pathways. As drunk as he was, he still had his arm around the neck of a half emptied wine bottle.

"Drunk on Lambrusco Rosso?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Move!" She ordered harshly but the man did not budge.

Beau leaped across the man while she was so frustrate that she stepped on him to get across. Nora followed in her footsteps. They passed another who laid at the bottom of the stairs and another who sat hidden in an obscured corner.

As they turned the corner, "thud," a lady bummed into Beau as he came to a sudden halt.

The waitress landed hard on her bum and stared into blanks. Beau bent over to offer to help her up and that was when she violently jerked on the floor and her body twisted into an odd arcing shape for a few moments before it stopped. She struggled painfully on the ground for a few moments before she breathed her last and hit the ground motionless.

"What the hell?" Nora exclaimed.

Nora glanced at her before dashing off with Beau to check on the other drunkards whom they had passed earlier.

She stared at the waitress's dead corpse. Her face was livid and in a twisted convulsion. Earlier she had savoured her blood; blood so warm and sweetish that she had to stop herself from draining her dry. Now she laid motionless on the ground and wore a painful expression.

"Not breathing," Nora reported as her hands searched the cold body for the slightest sign of a heart beat from the man in the corner.

Beau sped off and headed towards the direction of the kitchen.

"Mare let's follow," Nora beckoned and she was pulled away from the horrid wretched scene.

Hurriedly they crossed the ballroom to get to the kitchen that was on the other side. The guests were oblivious to the situation. They were "invited" from neighbouring towns and some were reputable figures like doctors. Beau had the honour to deliver the invitation card to the Salvatore brothers but it was Mary Louise and Nora who did most of the legwork; they compelled households from neighbouring towns to attend.

The spread for the evening was sumptuous. Just the appetizer table alone was filled with a variety of cold cuts that were all neatly arranged on silver shiny plates placed alongside trays of mini-egg mayonnaise and tuna sandwiches. They passed long tables after another of food courses and drinks.

"That was such a hideous way to die. Did you see her face?" Nora casually remarked.

"I wonder how Lily will react," Nora continued.

"Mare, you think –"

"Leaving already?" she sneered at the figures just as they were about to reach the kitchen.

"Had it rough?" She continued and pointed at their blood stained attire.

Nora stared at one of the suited figure with loathed while she hurled her insults at them. The other Salvatore brother made a devilish wink as they passed. She monitored with suspicion till she was sure that they were far away from the house.

Unfortunately, the party had to end early.

"Girls, please get all the guests to leave," Lily instructed.

They turned to leave while Beau remained to receive more instructions.

"Beau, I'll leave this matter in your hands. I'm a little preoccupied right now so if you could help…", Lily's voice faded as they left the room.

"It's time to go home now. You enjoyed yourself at this fabulous party and you love our company."

Nora smiled at the suited guest as he turned to make a move.

"There's so many of them! It'll take the whole night," Nora sipped a glass of champagne before compelling another to leave.

It was a wearisome task. They had to compel the guests whom they had invited over to leave and to ensure that they had left a good impression in them.

"Now, now, Nora, we can't expect them to stay when people are dying," she jokingly explained.

"But there's so many of them! How did we even gather that many in the first place?"

"Oh, this is taking longer than expected," Nora could not contain the frustration as the more she spoke, the angrier she became.

Nora was too busy complaining to have noticed her approaching. When Nora turned she saw her reached out hand.

"Mary Lou?"

"Dance with me my love?" she gazed into Nora's alluring green eyes with a playful grin.

Her hand caught Nora's fingers and she gently pulled her into an embraced dancing position. Nora wrapped her arms around her neck, head slightly angled and had a sheepish smile. They swayed slowly back and forth, moving to beats that only they could hear.

She inched Nora closer to the point where their noses and foreheads touched. She could feel Nora's breathe like cool breeze against her lips. She closed her eyes and took a breath and savoured Nora's natural scent. She felt Nora's racing pulse, beating in rhythm with hers. She took a step back and held Nora's left arm up in the air to slow twirl her before they recovered back into an embrace.

"We can dance like this forever", she gently said into Nora's ears and smiled.

They continued their slow sways, adding this to another of their precious treasured moments.

There laid 5 bodies in the room. Beau found another 2; one in the restroom and another in the backyard. The corpses all wore a painful expression that depicted the victims' last horrifying moments. She entered the room with Nora and glanced at the faces of one dead corpse to another. All were guests she did not recognize.

"Wait! Where's the waitress?" she asked.


	3. Chapter 3: Mystic Falls

**Chapter 3: Mystic Falls**

They combed the place; streets, restaurants, shops, houses and even undergrounds but saw no one. There was nothing living in sight; no birds and not even stray cats wandered. It was dead quiet in the middle of the night. Mystic Falls was even creepier at midnight ever since the townsfolks evacuated.

" _Click click click click",_ their high heels hit against the cold hard pavement as they searched under bridges and in alleyways.

"This doesn't make sense. Why is it happening?" she finally couldn't hold her tongue and asked as they exited from the alley and headed back to the main streets.

Except for the clicking of their heels, the past hour was awfully dull and quiet. She ran through the night's events in her head and she just couldn't piece things together. The more she thought about it, the more intrigued she became and the more questions she had. She finally couldn't hold her thoughts in anymore and she blasted away.

"Who did this and why at our Shindig? Could it be them, the Salvatore's brothers? This could all be their doing! I won't have doubted for a second if it was them!" she accusingly threw out all her theories.

She turned to face Mary Louise, who returned a brittle smile.

"Mare, what's wrong? You seemed troubled," she noticed the blonde had been rather distracted since the incident.

"Huh? Nora…no, you're right. I'm going to break their necks when I see them." She avoided her gaze as they approached a junction that broke into two alleys. She reached out her hand and wanted to grab Mary Lou's arm but held back. All she could utter was "Mary Lo…" before they stopped.

"Come now Nora, let's get this over and done with. We'll meet here later." Mary Louise continued to avoid her gaze and pointed in the direction of the two alleys.

They had followed the faint blood scent around town for the past hour but lost track of it just as they reached that junction. They scouted the area and looked around for clues, trying to catch the blood scent again but to no avail. They had pretty much covered the vicinity except for that two alleys.

"Right, later then Mary Lou," she turned and entered the alley on the left while Mary Louise took the one on the right.

Earlier she was shocked that the waitress was unaccounted for amongst the dead bodies as she was sure that the waitress died before her. Soon afterwards when she caught the smell of blood in the air, she was quick to blame the Salvatore brothers as they were the other vampires in town. However, she had her suspicion when Mary Louise behaved differently that night and she decided to secretly follow her into the alley after convincing her that she had took the left one.

She had to retrace her steps before entering the right alley. She make a few turns before it led into a narrower alley and she could see the end of the alley far ahead. The ally was lined with bottles and cluttered with crates, bins and bags of thrash. Empty crates were stacked on top one another and bins were filled with empty wine and beer bottles. It was difficult to navigate as the floor was littered with many empty bottles and she had to avoid tripping over them. She cautiously made her way around the alley and she caught a whiff of blood in the air. Her heart raced and she sped towards the source.

From the corner, she saw Mary Louise retrieving a content from the bin. As she moved nearer, it looked like a blood bag; an opened one as she could whiff the smell of blood in the air. However, they were not alone. It was already too late when she realized as a figure dashed at Mary Louise from behind.

"The waitress?" and before she could react, she saw the figure smashed a bottle into the back of Mary Louise's head.

It was a bloody sight; the bottle broke into two and glass bits flew in all direction. Blood gushed out from the back of Mary Louise's head.

"What have you done to me you monster!" her screams echoed into the night.

The pain soon subsided as Mary Louise regained her vitality and she turned to face the attacker.

" _Crackkk"_

She thrusted and extracted the heart of the waitress from behind. The corpse hit the ground with a thud and laid motionless, again. This time the waitress was dead for real.

"Mare, you alright?"

She threw aside the extracted heart into the bin and took Mary Louise by her arms. As though searching for an invisible wound, she cupped Mary Louise's head and searched for any signs of discomfort or wounds.

"Sorry I came late, did it hurt?"

"Come let's get you back home to rest," she was about to lead the way out of this alley and that was when Mary Louise stopped and grabbed her arm tightly.

"No, I must apologize instead. There is something I must let you know," Mary Louise said with a guilt ridden face.

"Mary Lou you're scaring me. You've been behaving strangely the whole night…Just what's wrong?"

A while later they exited the alley and enjoyed the chilly night breeze against their faces as they strolled down the streets. The town was still dreadfully silent, just like the hour before but this time, they felt as though a heavy load had lifted off their shoulders.

"Lily will be mad if she knows that you've fed on the guest. You'll probably be under strict supervision for the rest of this decade," she joked.

"Are you not mad?" Mary Louise cautiously asked.

"What for?" she raised her brows, "Over a mere human? And over a drink?" she laughed to herself.

"Why are you even hiding this from me? Anyway you sux, she almost knocked the wind out of you!" she playfully taunted and went into a slow jog.

"Why you…come here-!" Mary Louise tried grabbing her but she took off. She ran around in circles, around street lamps and around benches, trying to ditch Mary Louise. Their giggles and laughter filled the air.

"Hehehe, Mary Lou! Hehehe" she giggled as she ran in circles; managing to avoid and she managed to escape Mary Louise's grabs.

"Nora the night is still young. You can't run forever!"

"Mare no cheating, no super speed –"

"Caught you!" Mary Louise lunged and grabbed her by the wrist. She struggled to free herself from her grasp but lost balance and they both stumbled into an alley. They ended up in an embraced position and their giggles echoed into the alley. They decided to return home to inform Beau of the night's happenings and were only a few streets away from the house and they managed to catch the ringing siren of police cars and ambulances in the distance – the house was surrounded with them.

"That's strange, thought Beau wanted no authorities in...", her voice dropped as they spotted what looked like a gun pointing at them from a corner. They managed to catch a glimpse of a man who was taller than them (around 5'9") hiding behind the wall and Mary Louise sped over with inhuman speed. In a flash, Mary Louise's hands were already around the brown-haired man's neck and she held him in a head locked position.

"Wait! Wait!" he exclaimed and held his hands up in the air. The shotgun fell to hang across his shoulders and hung by a sling as he surrendered.

That was when she caught sight of a gemstone ring that was wrapped around one of his ring fingers. It was a clear sky blue, just like his eye colour; a colour so distinct that it was hard to miss.

"A unicorn horn stone?" she pointed at his ring. The young man smiled weakly in affirmation but he did not move a muscle due to Mary Louise's tight grip.

"Oh great!" she smirked towards Mary Louise who returned a devilish grin.

A loud _"crack"_ was heard afterwards and his neck snapped and he hit the ground.


	4. Chapter 4: Outside Mystic Falls

**Chapter 4: Outside Mystic Falls**

Mary Louise dashed across the hallway with a man dangling from her right shoulder. His head was bruised and he had an open shoulder wound. Blood flowed down his arm, down his sky blue ring finger and trailed the floor that they passed.

They were under heavy gunfire; the gunshots never stopped and blasted some of the floor panels and handrails into bits.

"Gosh, are you dying already?" Mary Louise managed to find time to ask amidst the rattling of gunfire.

"Ha! Not today!" the man managed to get the words out before falling back into silence.

"Deep breathe!" Mary Louise warned before she dashed through the 2nd floor window, smashing the window panel in the process. She landed on the 1st floor and headed towards the direction of a forest, all the while with the man on her right shoulder.

* * *

He immediately sat up and yelled, "Ouchhhh".

He grabbed his neck. It was a horrible burning sensation, so painful was it that he had to bite his lips. He sat in bed and looked around the unfamiliar room and the night's events soon came back to him. He still wore the ring while his shotgun laid against a nearby table. He jumped out of bed, grabbed his gun and sprung towards the door.

"Do you think he'll ever make it down for breakfast?" Nora poured some orange juice from a jug into a glass.

"He's been walking around in circles for a while now", she passed the glass of orange juice to Mary Louise before they both chuckled. Beau shook his head and smiled.

Lily immediately shot a disapproving look at the pair just as she laid a plate of scrambled eggs on the dining table. "Now girls, remember what I told you," she returned to the kitchen to get the remaining dishes. Mary Louise immediately lifted the mischievous spell that she had earlier cast on him and he managed to make his way to the main hall.

He was apprehensive of them and stood grounded but Lily had her way of making people feel comfortable. "Good morning! Are you feeling better already?" she motioned him over. "Come join us for breakfast, there's plenty." She placed the plates of sausages and bacons down.

"Meanwhile, you might want to put that away," Julian gave a bright smile and pointed at the shotgun in his hand.

It didn't take him long before he warmed up to the family. Soon he was giving driving advises to Lily and sharing popular tour locations on google with Julian.

"So Caius, tell us, why are you in Mystic Falls?" Julian finally popped the question just as they finished breakfast.

The family listened as Caius explained. Lily was extremely upset that her peaceful party had ended up to become a disaster and would make it to the papers. Her face was like she had just ate a super sour lemon sweet.

"Won't you girls help the inspector with this case?" Lily placed her hands on Nora and Mary Louise's shoulder as she walked over to them.

"No, no, it's alright. It's police matter, we -"

"Oh, and remember what I've taught you girls," she sternly warned the duo, cutting off Caius' sentence.

From the corner of her eyes, Nora could see Julian winked and mouthed something like "have fun" from across the table.

It didn't take Nora long to become good chat buddies with Caius though they met only a few hours ago. They chatted about phones and Pinterest DIY stuff as Nora was fascinated with them. Mary Louise, unable to fit into their conversation, went to the back of the motorhome and kept herself occupied by exploring the back of his motorhome.

Nora briefly saw Mary Louise pulled out a hardcover book that was thicker than its neighbours from an elevated small shelf and she noticed the cover of what looked like a book on waterfalls. After some flipping of the pages, she heard her returning the book to the shelf before picking out another book. That picking and putting back of book motion continued throughout the trip while she chatted with Caius.

They made brief stops at petrol kiosks now and then and only reached Green Woods late at night. The motorhome pulled up into a garage that was next to a 3 storey house before Caius turned off the engine. Green Woods was way bigger than Mystic Falls and the shops and streets were buzzing with human activity when they drove passed certain streets. The residential areas, on the other hand, was relatively quieter and the streets were empty. The house that the car pulled up to was located at the outskirts and at the very corner of a street. There, houses were lined neatly in a single file but spaciously apart. Not far ahead was a forest and a football size field separated the residential area from it.

Caius had some "police matters" to attend to but would meet up with them later. Before Caius left, he pulled opened the door, hoped into the house and exclaimed, "Come in please, the both of you!" He not only welcomed them loudly with arms outstretched but he also did it with a bright smile. Nora glanced at Mary Louise, who returned a raised brow and they both couldn't help but returned a friendly smile too.

"Why, thank you! – " and before Nora could complete her sentence, Caius already threw over a bunch of keys and sped off.

"Pick any room but the room with a blue door is mine –" his voice faded as he turned the corner.

The house wasn't as big as the one in Mystic Falls but it was too spacious for a single person to live in. There was a small attic, a spacious kitchen and living room area and there was even a tiled backyard with a mini pool and a few lounge chairs. They chose the room directly opposite of Caius on the second floor as it had a toilet, sofa, wardrobe and a king sized bed. Mary Louise went into the kitchen while Nora made herself comfortable in the living room and loaded her messages.

 _[11:38 AM] Blood packs are in the cooler bag_

 _[12:01 PM] Eaten? There should be more than enough for afternoon tea later_

 _[2:30 PM] Text daily, need to know whether safe_

 _[4:14 PM] Reached?_

 _[6:09 PM] Nora, is the inspector still alive?_

 _[8:30 PM] Answer me…_

 _[10:49 PM] Nora?_

"Okay, that's it," Nora declared after sending a reply on her iphone.

"What is?" a confused Mary Louise asked as she entered the living room.

Mary Louise noticed that Nora had switched off the iphone while making her way towards the front door.

"Mare, we're finally outside Mystic Falls," Nora grinned widely as she turned the door knob.

She stepped out of the house and turned to beckon Mary Louise.

"Let's have some fun!"


	5. Chapter 5: Open 3 Penny

**Chapter 5: Open 3 Penny**

"Hey! Apologize! You drunkard!" the man shouted.

A beefy man dumped into a couple. The man raised his fist and was about to punch the man but was stopped by his girlfriend.

"Pretty flower for my lady," Mary Louise offered the stalk of red rose to Nora.

Nora turned her attention to Mary Louise. Nora accepted the rose and beamed happily. Earlier Mary Louise sneaked away to compel a flower vendor in order to get the stalk of rose when Nora was distracted by the commotion.

They were in a busy area in town. Though it was midnight, it was still buzzing with activities. They turned into a street and caught street performances one after the other. As the street was wide, each performer spaced themselves out and took an area. There were still some stores, pubs, cafes and restaurants opened for business at this hour.

They passed a street performer who strummed the guitar and did a love duet with another. Mary Louise wasn't very appreciative of pop love songs but when she saw that Nora was enjoying herself, she also tried to get into the mood.

 _The penetrating sound of trumpets resonated into the street._

Two performers blew their trumpets to catch the public's attention.

 _The trumpeters continued their resonance._

They turned towards a black van that was plastered with colourful posters. The van's back door swung opened and 3 men somersaulted and landed gracefully amidst the crowd. The performers were all dressed medieval-style. There was at least some effort to dress up as they wore fake metal helmets and had clothed mask pulled over their faces. Their clothes were long sleeved and all each had a cloak. It was difficult to tell the three performers apart as they were almost the same height and equally as lean. As for the two trumpeters, they were distinguishable as one was of average height but had a beer belly while the other was dwarf size.

The three performers gathered in a circle and faced each other and prepared themselves while the trumpeters pulled out three moving boards that had wheels attached to them. They wheeled boards were of different heights – one around waist height, another around chest height, and the last was around shoulder height of an average man – and in the middle of each board, was a dart board.

Suddenly the three performers started somersaulting outwards to spread out in different directions. When they stopped, each had a knife in hand. They threw their knives and each hit the middle of a dart board perfectly. The crowd applauded and more gathered to watch.

Nora took Mary Louise's arm and guided her out of the crowd and into a pub. There were customers but the pub wasn't so packed and they got themselves a corner seat. They each ordered a bottle of beer and while waiting for their orders to arrive, Mary Louise observed the groups that were there. One group in particular, caught her attention. They were a group of seven and they were drinking to their fills. They were not only chatty but their laughter were louder than the other groups around. Mary Louise watched them and she was reminded of memorable times she had with her family.

* * *

 _ **ENGLAND 1903**_

The cheers of a rowdy crowd from a pub filled the streets at night. The crowd gathered around the trio and banged their mugs repeatedly against tables, chairs or the walls and chanted their names.

" _Clank"_

The three men stood around a round table and raised their beer mugs into the air to a toast before they gulped down beer.

"Beau! Beau! Beau! Beau!" Nora chanted his name repeatedly and watched in excitement.

"Julian! Julian!" Mary Louise shouted, "You need to take the egg!"

Noticing that Beau was relatively faster than him, Malcolm started elbowing Beau and tried to push his mug away from his mouth. Beau retaliated and wrestled with Malcolm and tried to push his mug away too. The duo continued their wrestling all the while trying to finish their drinks.

"And we have a winner!" Oscar climbed onto the bar table and shouted.

"Julian!" he pointed at the winner and raised Julian's arm and an empty mug in the air.

"No, it's unfair, Beau was interrupted –" Nora protested but the match was already decided by consensus. Some of the crowd cheered while the others unwillingly threw their pennies into Oscar's hat. Mary Louise threw her arms up into the air and jumped in joy.

"I'm terribly sorry gentlemen," Julian grinned as he took Beau and Malcolm's open 3 pennies from the table and slid them into his pocket.

"What's the stake for the next round?" Julian asked and the crowd roared.

Nora sulked and moved to the bar to order a mug of beer. Mary Louise who was initially in bright spirits and celebrating with the winners, noticed the mood change in Nora and she went over to check up on her. Settling on a bar stool beside her, she also ordered a mug of beer. The bartender returned with two mugs of beer and placed it in front of them and continued to wipe his mugs. There was an awkward silence as they both drank up.

"Come on Nora," Mary Louise finally broke the silence.

Nora didn't reply. She continue to sip her mug of beer and pretended to not hear Mary Louise.

"It was only a friendly bet." Mary Louise continued, trying to appease Nora.

"A bottle of Miller!" Valerie ordered and the bartender returned with the bottle almost immediately. Valerie had been quietly sitting all by herself and had caught on to their conversation.

"Nobody likes a sore loser," Valerie pointed the bottle at Nora while speaking before walking away with a smirk on her face.

Mary Louise snapped. Valerie was detestable. She could not get along with her but she had no choice but to tolerate since they were a family. She could tolerate Valerie's cynicism and mean jokes when it was directed at her but would not take any insults that were hurled at Nora. She sprang to grab Valerie's shoulder from behind and gripped it hard with one hand. Valerie half turned and grabbed Mary Louise's hand that was on her shoulder. They stared daggers at each other for a while, each threatening to break a few bones.

Meanwhile the bartender continued to fake ignorance and wiped his mugs.

"Here's your share Val," a bubbly figure appeared from behind a corner and separated them both.

Valerie took the small bag of pennies and shot Mary Louise a threatening look while Mary Louise returned a hateful glare and she watched as Valerie moved out of sight.

"Nora darling, I happen to have this. Thought that you might be interested," Oscar quickly slid it into her palm.

"And don't fight!" Oscar gently tossed another small bag of pennies to Mary Louise and gave a wink before picking up Nora's mug of beer to drink. He then slowly made his way towards the crowd and re-joined the gleeful bunch.

Nora looked into her palm and smiled.

Oscar was a woman's man. He knew how to handle the ladies in the family and when he was around, everybody was happy and nobody fought with one another.

Mary Louise noticed Nora's smiles but she was still mindful of her earlier tantrums. She returned to sit beside Nora and continued to sip her mug of beer, quietly. Nora's mood change, this time for a better, was welcomed by Mary Louise. Nora ordered a dozen beer bottles and asked that they to be served to the occupied corner seat. She pulled Mary Louise over to the table, compelled the humans there to let them have their table and seats, and made herself comfortable.

They drank and laughed to mundane affairs. There was once when Beau lost a bet with the guys and he had to go over to the lady's table to sing them a piece as his punishment. His voice resonated the pub and smitten the hearts of many ladies. Bottles emptied one after the other and by the time Mary Louise realized that Nora was a little tipsy, it was already too late. She even had to help her up the steps to the second floor lavatory.

 _knock knock knock_

"Nora, are you done yet?" Mary Louise waited patiently outside the lavatory.

"Hee hee did you hear that? They were shocked when Beau performed at our table! Hee hee," Nora continued her giggles.

"Definitely! He's one of the best around," Mary Louise shook her head and smiled to herself as she knew that Nora had a little too much.

"Nora, what did you get from Oscar?" she wanted to know what Oscar gave that could make Nora mood change dramatically.

"Oscar!" Nora hit a high pitch as she exclaimed the first syllable.

"Pretty…shinny penny…"

"Open 3 penny!"

"Mary Lou I have a rare open 3 penny now!" she boosted and continued to giggle on the other side of the door.

"Impressive Nora, an open 3 penny!" Mary Louise pretended to sound impressed.

"It must look amazing," she continued her praises while Nora continued her giggles.

Suddenly the lavatory went silent.

"Nora?" Mary Louise knocked on the door.

"Nora?" she pushed opened the lavatory door.

Never would she have guessed that Nora was hiding in a corner. When the door swung opened, she sped out of the lavatory and hugged Mary Louise around the neck. Mary Louise was startled but regained herself as Nora maintained the hug.

A sudden realization hit her.

"You were playing drunk," she whispered into Nora's ears.

She wrapped her arms around Nora's waist. "That few bottles shouldn't be a problem to us."

Nora didn't say anything.

They stayed in that position for what seemed like ages and they only pulled away from each other when they heard footsteps from the stairs to the lavatory.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT**_

"Nora, why did you play drunk?" the words slipped from Mary Louise's lips unconsciously.

"Play drunk?" Nora shot a confused look and pointed to her beer, "I haven't even finished half a bottle yet Mary Lou!"

 _Beep Beep Beep_

 _[1:35 AM] Have leads, meet at town square, need your help._

"Let's look for Caius at the town square…," she paused, "where – wherever that town square is," she added and showed the text to Mary Louise.

"Since when did you have his number?" Mary Louise casually asked.

"We did chat while on the way here, remember?" Nora reminded Mary Louise of the day's event.

Mary Louise was hit by a wave of unhappiness as she recalled Nora chatting more with people other than her. She acted indifferently and pretended to look out of the window and into the streets.

"I'm starving. I haven't had anything since –," Nora tried to recall, "…yesterday morning."

"Especially not from that cold cooler bag," Nora jumped to her feet and made her way to the exit.

She followed Nora back into the buzzing street to search for the "town square" that Caius had mentioned.

At least for now, she had Nora to herself.


	6. Chapter 6: Green Woods Anniversary

**Chapter 6: Green Woods Anniversary**

 _ **Moments earlier in a toy store...**_

"Take the bag of bottles and do as instructed," the beefy looking man took the bag and exited the store. He stepped out to the streets to reveal himself to be a chef from the uniform he wore. On his way, he bumped into a few passer-by and one of them even raised an angry fist and hurled threats at him but he just continued walking, as though he was in a trance.

In the room of a 2nd storey toy store, two figures sat around a round dining table. The lights in the room was dimly lit and there were a few empty beer cans and bottles laying around the floor.

"We have a little situation," the man with the beer can spoke.

He had a husky voice and pointed at the newspapers that he had left in the middle of the dining table.

"The police?" The other man who was drinking the Miller beer pretended to be shocked. "Relax! Just like before, they will have no leads at all!"

"No, not the police," the husky voice replied indifferently.

"So, what then?" A third man entered the room to join the other two with a bottle of raspberry ale in hand. He took the papers and flipped to the news section on Mystic Falls.

The man with the beer can took his time to disclose the information that he knew. "The papers reported 5 deaths," the husky voice started, "But it would have been more if the guests were not _compelled_ to leave."

He sipped a mouth of beer before continuing, "And I have news that two of them are here to help the police."

The man with the raspberry ale bottle threw the newspapers to the middle of the table.

"No way! The two who are here with the police," he started pacing around the table. "So they are –," he continued, "– vampires?" He finally stopped pacing but this time, a wide smile hung across his face.

 _Clank_

The raspberry ale bottle flew across the room and landed into an uncovered metal bin, shattering into pieces as it hit the bin's bottom. "Should we pay them a visit, my brothers?"

* * *

 **ENGLAND 1903**

 _Did she catch us hugging?_

 _I heard the footsteps and we pulled away immediately. She shouldn't be able to, right?_

 _Should I compel her?_

 _What have I gotten ourselves into?_

 _Is Mary Lou mad at me?_

Nora had always been very careful to not display any public affection. No holding hands, no kissing, no hugging affectionately, no stroking of faces and the not to do list went on. She had followed closely to the list of what not to do in public and there was always a conscious effort on her part to distance herself physically from Mary Louise. Whenever the back of their hands brushed, she would move away. During walks in beautiful gardens, they would walk together but never with intertwined fingers. During meals they would give food praises but never feed one another.

Ever since the family arrived in England two weeks ago, she even had to keep her distance from Mary Louise when at home as they were "prestige guests" of one of Julian's friends whom he had acquainted a hundred years ago. They had separate rooms and had almost no private moment to themselves as the host's many sons surrounded and tried courting them whenever the opportunity arose.

Tonight, the family decided to have a night out without the company of the host and his family. It was actually a breather for Nora as she was annoyed by the constant courtship attempts by the host's sons. She initially thought that she would be able to spend some private time with Mary Louise but for most of the night, Mary Louise had been chummy and preoccupied with their brothers either on bets or beer, all of which did not involve her.

She finally had her woman to herself or so she thought but there were constant interruptions like Beau's impromptu singing and Oscar checking on Mary Louise; whether she was pacified after her encounter with Valerie.

Nora realized that she was watching Mary Louise more than usual for that night. She watched her actions, watched her when she laughed, watched her alluring green eyes met hers and watched her voluptuous lips moved. She wanted so much to be closer to her, alone. Then came the ingenious idea of getting some private alone time with Mary Louise but they now risked getting their secret relationship exposed by a passer-by.

Guilty, Nora followed behind Mary Louise in silence as they went down the stairs in a single file. Time seemed to have slowed. It took an eternity for the lady to climb the stairs and when she had finally passed them, Mary Louise heaved a sigh of relief after the door to the lavatory slammed behind her. The lady left a vomit aftermath stench in the air that would have diminished her credibility should she expose their secret relationship to the masses.

"Close call, let's go," Mary Louise whispered and she turned to continue down the stairs.

"Hmmm, Nora?" Mary Louise turned to look at Nora when she was stopped in her tracks by her. Nora gently tugged Mary Louise's sleeve and swayed it from side to side. Blushing and lowering her head, she looked at the floor.

"Why, what's wrong?" Mary Louise softly asked. This time, she was cautious and kept a watchful eye of the surroundings.

Nora, still clinging on to the sleeve, slowly raised her head towards a clueless Mary Louise.

"Mary Lou…" there was hesitation as she spoke, "would you…" Nora's eyes met Mary Louise's and she stopped. Her cheeks grew a bright red and she immediately gazed at the floor.

 _BANG_

 _Thud_

 _Thud_

Noises were heard coming from the lavatory. The lady was creating much noise on the other side of the door where she knocked into items when in her drunkard state.

"Let's go before she comes out," Mary Louise urged.

Mary Louise brushed Nora's fingers off her sleeve before she sped down the stairs, leaving Nora behind.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT**_

"Finally, a decent meal," Nora licked her lips in delight and she dropped the man to the cobbled floor. Around was a handful of unconscious men and women. Some were seated against the alley walls while the others laid on the floor. All had no bite mark and breathed regularly.

Nora picked up another man and sank her teeth into his arm. She missed the familiar sensation of drinking warmth blood from her prey. She was enjoying the moment and didn't want it to end.

"Nora, stop!"

Mary Louise held on to the man, "You have had him earlier, no more from him."

Mary Louise fed him some of her blood before placing him back to the ground. Nora looked around, trying to decide from the pile of unconscious and finally decided on a red-head.

"She's off limits too," Mary Louise pointed at the red-head's wrist as a reminder.

"Mary Lou, that's enough. You've ruined my appetite. Let's go since you seem like you're done."

She turned to a brunette whom she had compelled, "Won't you show us where the town square is?"

They followed the brunette and turned out of the alley and into a street. It was a long quiet walk as they passed a few residential areas and then the voices became louder and louder as they neared another buzzing with activity area of town.

"Remember, some restraint Nora," Mary Louise gently placed her arm on Nora's back shoulder.

"…and also Lily's instructions."

Irked, Nora brushed away Mary Louise's arm. "Yes, I know that we are on a mission, not a vacation."

They walked a while more before they came to a stop at another crowded area in town.

"Thank you darling for showing the way. Now, please, if you'll forget what just happened," she ordered and the brunette walked away.

"No need for guesses, we know where to look for him now," Mary Louise pointed at the police station as she headed in that direction. "How convenient that the fire station and the hospital are near the police station!"

While following after Mary Louise, what caught Nora's attention when she passed one of the notice boards that were in the town square was a pamphlet with dark green background, as it stood out from the others that were printed on plain white paper.

 _Celebrating Green Woods_ _Anniversary!_

 _In celebration of the town's 100_ _th_ _Anniversary, Mayor Largo cordially invites fellow Green Woodsians to the town hall for a night of fun, wine and dine._

Nora hastily recited what was written before disposing they entered the police station. They were just about to ask the officer on duty for a man named Caius when they heard a familiar voice called out to them from the far end of the station. "Hey Nora! Hey Mary Louise! Over here!"

The officer on duty hurriedly moved and blocked their path, flexing a muscle and eyed them suspiciously, unsure whether to let them pass.

"It's fine Roger, let them come over," he said as he closed the door behind him to join them.

"So, what's the updates Caius?" Nora asked as they strolled over.

Caius approached them and looked around sneakily before pulling them both nearer. "It'll be great if one of you can help me to get a few answers out from him," he dropped to a whisper and pointed towards the door that he had closed earlier.

"Him?" Nora and Mary Louise looked at each other with a raised brow.

"Oh right, we have some interesting situations that just happened in town," he put his arms on their shoulders. "Will share the case files later," he continued.

"Now, if you ladies could do me the favour," he hastily asked.

Caius had no intention of waiting for their reply as he had already ushered them to the door and before they could make sense of the whole situation, he pushed opened the door and shoved them in. "Help me ask, who ordered the poison?"


	7. Chapter 7: 1903 Anniversary

**Chapter 7: 1903 Anniversary**

 _ **ENGLAND 1903**_

Nora woke particularly early this morning. She was up before day break and dressed just as the sunrise. In her beautiful long dress, she tip-toed across the corridor to a door that hung a string of small bells as decoration at the centre. She sneakily turned the door knob and hastily entered the room and closed the door gently behind her.

The room was dark as the curtains were still drawn and blocked the rising sun rays but she had no difficulty navigating in the room as she moved with ease. She crept towards the figure in the canopy bed as quietly as possible; passing a chair that had dresses stacked one after the other, a corner where towels messily piled to form a miniature hill and glasses of wine and champagne scattered everywhere on a long table. It was as though she was already familiar with such sight as she didn't express any shock nor surprise when she passed them.

As she crept closer to the canopy bed, the blonde in bed still showed no signs of stirring. Just when she was close enough, she leaned softly on the mattress and wrapped her arms around the blonde under the blanket.

"Rise and shine dar-," Recalling, she managed to stop herself from completing the sentence.

"It's a very beautiful morning, would you like to take a walk to the nearby lake with me?" she gently shook her shoulders and stroked her blonde silky hair.

Mary Louise still showed no sign of stirring. Her eyelids remained closed and her breathing was relaxed. It was only later when she opened her eyes to find Nora on the floor with head rested on the bed beside her. In one quick move, she wrapped her arms around Nora and pulled her into the bed under the blankets. Shocked, Nora didn't have time to react and by the time she realized, she was already pinned under by Mary Louise.

"Mare? Don't forget that we're –"

Ignoring her protests, Mary Louise leaned in for a kiss but Nora shook her head playfully to deter Mary Louise's advances. When she finally managed to land a peek on her checks, she pulled away and smiled broadly. "Happy Anniversary Nora!"

"And Happy Anniversary to you too Mary Lou!" Nora couldn't hide her smile when she heard that. She looked forward to this special day since a week ago as it was one of her favourite occasions. She already had a plan in mind; to bring Mary Louise to one of the prettiest garden in the morning to look at flowers, to shop in town in the afternoon and finally, a romantic dinner at a restaurant.

Mary Louise leaned in to steal another kiss but this time, there was no struggle.

Her arms caught Mary Louise gently around her neck and their lips touched. Mary Louise's lips were soft, tender and irresistible. She felt a wrapped arm around her waist and she was pulled closer and she did not resist. The kisses were warmer than usual and as Mary Louise's body pressed closer to hers, she gently tightened her arms that were around Mary Louise's neck. Mary Louise ran her fingers across her back and down to her thighs and gently caressing them back and forth and their kisses continued. However, she caught Mary Louise's wandering fingers just as they were moving upwards from under her dress.

"Wait! Mary Lou! Stop!" She paused to catch her breath before continuing.

"We could get into trouble here," she whispered while still holding on to Mary Louise's fingers that never budged from under the dress.

"But it's our anniversary! Nora, please?" Mary Louise looked like an innocent puppy asking for a cookie.

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

 _Knock_

They turned to look at the door and waited for it to open, but it did not open.

"Ahem! Girls, can I speak to the both of you in my room now?"

It was Lily on the other side of the door and her request was crystal clear.

"See, what trouble we have gotten ourselves into now," Nora sighed as she separated herself from Mary Louise and went after Lily.

"Girls, I thought that we have an agreement?" Lily crossed her arms and waited for an explanation as Mary Louise closed the door behind her. Both Nora and Mary Louise remained silent and stared blankly at the floor, not looking into Lily's eyes.

Julian pretended to not notice the lecturing and continued to pick his coats from the closet, trying to find the perfect match.

"What did you girls promise me?" She asked.

Neither of them spoke.

"Nora, I expect you to follow. Mary Louise, you too! I expect you to keep your word," she sighed loudly and turned to face the window.

"Did you girls forget our agreement?" Lily reminded, "That there is to be no physical intimacy for as long as you girls are in this house as guests? The Masons is a reputable family and have been friends with Julian for almost a century."

Lily paced from the window to in front of them. "Were you going to continue if I haven't heard and stopped you girls?" Mary Louise could see from the side of her eyes that Nora blushed at the mention of them making out. Mary Louise shot Nora a wink and a quick smile to try to console her when Lily wasn't noticing.

"Don't forget that everyone in the household can hear you," Lily became more agitated the more she thought about it.

It was a painful one-way conversation, where Lily lashed at Nora and Mary Louise and where they had no intention of defending or arguing back.

"Lily, the Masons have been on a trip since yesterday. I'm sure they are pretty liberal and will not disapprove if they were to know –" Julian stopped when Lily shot over a disapproving look. He returned to his wardrobe to continue to look for his perfect coat.

"Now, I expect better behaviour from the both of you. Did I make myself clear?" Lily demanded.

They both nodded.

Lily held out a wrapped rectangular present and handed it to Nora. "Here is my gift for the both of you. Happy anniversary girls."

They both left the room and were just about to return to their own rooms when Julian signalled for Mary Louise to follow her to the garden.

"What is it Julian?" She asked as they strolled in the garden.

"Here's my present for the both of you," he handed over a small box and two tickets and brought Mary Louise to a hug. "The Masons won't be back till tomorrow afternoon and we'll worry about Lily when the time comes. Have a fabulous night Mary Louise. I'm sure that you and Nora will love it," he winked and then slow jogged back towards the house.

"Hmm tickets to a play and what's this? A metal match stick box?" She shook the metal box and after meddling with it for a while, she found a small switch by the edge and flipped it upwards.

 _Click_

The casing of the metal box swung open to reveal a key with a chain attached to the box. She scrutinized the metallic box and found an engraving in the inner side of the box with the words "Savoy".

* * *

 _ **PRESENT**_

The small office desk was stacked with files of many different colours. Nora and Mary Louise randomly picked up a file to read before dropping them back to the desk.

"Look at this guy, he's hilarious looking don't you think so Mare," Nora showed the file to Mary Louise before she flipped the page.

"Ahem, look at the case description. The important points are those," Caius bright blue ring glittered under the room light when he handed over two bottles of mineral water.

"Okay, that's enough. We have no idea why you are making us read these at this hour. It's a waste of our time! We have skimmed through some files and can draw no similarities to the situation that we have encountered. Out with it Caius," Mary Louise impatiently demanded.

"Alrighty," he mentioned, "There has been a sharp rise of reported missing people and people being murdered for the past week and I happen to read some interesting cases that took place a week before we arrived," he flipped through the files that were on the desk and pulled out an orange one.

"This! The victim bled to death but we couldn't find his blood. Sounds creepy huh?" He showed them the file and flipped to the page with photos.

"What do you mean by couldn't find his blood?" Nora asked.

"His throat was slashed most probably by a huge knife and he was bled dry. There were only a few drops of blood on the ground though he was left hanging upside down. The police couldn't find the weapon of murder, neither could they explain where his blood went."

"To make matters worse, we have had 10 such cases happening within a span of one week." Caius pointed to the orange files hidden amongst the pile of files that were on the desk.

Surprised, Nora and Mary Louise pulled out all the orange files to study.

"Someone needs a lot of blood. A hell lot of them," Nora unscrewed the bottle cap of the water bottle and took a mouthful before she suddenly clutched her throat and dropped the bottle to the floor.

The water was initially refreshing but then it later burnt and hurt as though someone had set her throat on fire. Smoke steamed out from her mouth as she struggled to breath. She tasted blood, her own blood, and it was so painful that she knelt onto the floor and clenched her throat.

Mary Louise immediately sped towards Nora and held on to her arm to support.

"Caius!" Mary Louise shouted.

"No! It's not me, I didn't do this. I got the bottles from the batch that was just delivered to us from the factory," he explained before offering a helping hand. "Are you alright?"

It took Nora a while for the pain to subside and much longer for her throat to return to her regular colour. Even before the pain subsided, she immediately grabbed Caius's neck with one hand and gave it a twist.

 _Crack_

"Hmmm, I feel so much better after breaking his neck," Nora declared as she stared at the motionless Caius on the floor.

"We must remember to remove his ring when we really want to kill him one day," Mary Louise jokingly pointed at the unicorn heart stone ring.

"Do you think we can trust him?" She continued.

"I guess so…" Nora was taken aback by Mary Louise's question. "Anyway he can't be compelled and we're stuck with him for now. Don't forget Lily's instructions."

"So shall we pay the water bottle factory a visit? Payback time for trying to burn my throat while I'm alive!" Nora was furious, she had never had vervain down her throat before and was ready to burn down the water bottle factory to appease her anger. They studied the bottles and right after they figured out the water bottle brand, they sped off for revenge.


	8. Chapter 8: The Mason Brothers

**Chapter 8: The Mason Brothers**

 _ **ENGLAND 1903**_

Savoy was actually a popular and one of the most magnificent hotels around. Nora and Mary Louise didn't know about it till they arrived at the theatre in the evening to catch the play. The hotel was so grandeur that they could spot it from afar from the theatre. The hotel was made up of a few buildings and one of them was under renovation and closed to the public.

"Wow, what a beautiful room!" Nora looked in awe at the presidential suite size room.

"How did you know of such a place?" Nora ran over to the bar in excitement and picked up champagne glasses.

"Don't you love it? Julian specially got this room for us tonight," her eyes followed an excited Nora around the room.

"No way! You're kidding Mary Lou."

"This is absolutely stunning! I have lived in huge houses before but never have I seen a room so huge that it's as big as a house!" She made her way to the cellar and poured herself a glass of champagne.

"Even the champagne here smells sweeter than usual," she handed a glass to Mary Louise.

 _CLING_

"Nora, happy anniversary!" Mary Louise raised her glasses.

Just as they sipped their champagne, a strong stench of blood floated into the air. It was so strong that it caught the attention of both of them.

"What could have happened? Is there a war somewhere?" The veins around Nora eyes protruded and her sclera turned blood-shot red. Her fangs involuntary appeared as the scene of blood overwhelmed her.

"Nora!" Mary Louise gripped Nora on her shoulders and gently shook her back to her senses.

Nora's face slowly reverted back to her regular self as she got a hold of herself.

"Blood…its so overwhelming Mary Lou. What's happening? Should we take a look?" There was uncertainty as she wasn't sure whether she had made a right suggestion.

"Let's just take a quick peak, I'm curious too," Mary Louise agreed and they sped out of the suite and they traced the scent.

The closer they were to the source, the stronger the blood scent was. They followed and entered the wing that was closed to the public and exited to a backyard that was shared between the hotel and the next building.

After turning a corner, they found a carnage of bloodied corpses in a pool of blood. There were rows of corpses and some even laid on top one another. The corpses had punctual wounds on their necks while the others had punctured wounds on various parts of their bodies. Some of the dead even wore a shocked frozen face at the moment of their deaths. Nora and Mary Louise looked at each other not knowing what to make out of the scene.

"My guess is that a vampire did this for fun. Even so, what a strange habit to have all the dead collected in only one area," Nora flipped a corpse to examine one of the corpses.

"Well, good evening my ladies. What brings you here?" the husky voice in a corner spoke as be bowed and gave a wide smile.

The man was tall, slender and had short curly red hair. Dressed in a tailored made 3 piece suit, he seemed very out of place amidst this carnage.

"Why, it's one of the Masons. We thought that Mr Mason and your good self will only be back tomorrow?" Mary Louise looked around and spotted another figure by the window in the opposite building.

"Oh, something cropped up and we returned earlier," the husky voice avoided their gazes as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Can I get you ladies a drink?" he offered and pointed to the pile of corpses with a forced smile.

"Your sense of humour is still as terrible as ever Bruce," Nora thoughtlessly remarked.

Bruce tried to force another smile in his attempts to continue the conversation but it started to feel awkward.

"I'm assuming that is Benjamin," Mary Louise pointed at the man who just emerged from the opposite building.

Bruce gave a short nod and the awkward silence continued.

"What just happened here? It's a little against your practices to feast and create such a mess in public I thought?" Mary Louise pointed to the many rows of corpses.

Bruce kept quiet. He hurriedly turned to motion for Benjamin to quickly come over.

"Let's go Mary Lou," Nora tugged and signalled for her to go as she was getting impatient with the situation they were in. Bruce was unwilling or unable to explain his situation properly and it was awkward communicating with him.

They were just about to leave when they turned to face a clean shaven young man with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was in a blazer and would have been all prim and proper if not for the overwhelming stench of blood that emitted from his jacket.

The man bowed and introduced himself. "Well hello ladies, we haven't met before but I have heard a lot about the both of you from my dear brothers."

"I'm Brian Mason, nice to meet you," he extended his hand towards Mary Louise.

In a flash, another man sped to stand in between Brian and Mary Louise. He grabbed Brian's extended arm with both hands.

"I'm afraid that my youngest brother just returned from a long trip and is not feeling very himself this evening. I'm sure that he will get to know you ladies more when the time comes," the man who spoke turned out to be the eldest of the Mason brothers, Brandon. He explained with a brittle smile to the both of them awhile applying strength to his grip on Brian.

"Very well then, we better make a move first. Let's go Nora," they did a curtsy and excused themselves from the gentlemen. Both Nora and Mary Louise had enough of the speeches and introductions as all they wanted was to get back to celebrating their anniversary. The Masons were clearly hiding something and it didn't seem like they would be sharing their masterplan with the both of them that night. They turned the corner and left but managed to catch some of their conversations for Brandon didn't attempt to whisper the contents nor hide it.

"Come on Brian, look at the mess. Control yourself…Unless you can't!" Brandon's pleas echoed into the night.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT**_

The moon shone brightly overhead as two figures moves steady behind a van that was parked inside the factory premises. Nora emptied the bottle of water dispenser refill of its contents and the water flowed into the nearby factory drainage.

"This is the 8th bottle refill that is filled with vervain," she mentioned in disguised before continuing to pour out its contents. Nora was not expecting a reply from Mary Louise. She was merely complaining to vent her anger in another way as her painful encounter with vervain water was still fresh in her mind. She initially wanted to burn down the whole factory along with its warehouses but Mary Louise talked her out of it. Nora couldn't help but to agree that Mary Louise was right. The culprit should be someone behind the scenes and they were bent on catching the mastermind instead of just burning down the factory and ending up with no leads.

They then came up with an ingenious plan to replace the bottle of waters with vervain-free ones to create the false impression that everything is going according to the mastermind's plans. Mary Louise replaced the empty spot in the van with another bottle refill that she took from the warehouse.

"That should do it," Mary Louise confidently said.

"The van should be delivering this to the town's anniversary party." She skimmed through the delivery documents that were in a file at the driver's seat to double check the delivery location.

"Now what's left is to head to the party and to catch and burn the mastermind alive!" Mary Louise continued.

Nora laughed, "You make it sound so easy. Sometimes Mary Lou, you simplify things way too much."

It took a while but the duo managed to find their way back to the house.

They entered the compound but stopped their tracks just as they entered the pouch. Something glittery caught their attention as they approached. At the steps to the main door lay a unicorn heart stone ring on top of an envelope.

Inside the envelope was a note that read:

 _You're cordially invited to Green Wood's Anniversary at the Town Hall._

"Did Caius leave us this message?" Nora was baffled and she looked to Mary Louise for some explanations.

"This is Caius ring, right?" Mary Louise held up the ring with her fingers and examined. It glittered a shiny blue under the moonlight.

"It sure does looks like it," Nora affirmed. "He was wearing it…when I last broke his neck at the police station," she laughed.

"Nora! You little devil," Mary Louise teased.

"What! You broke his neck before too…remember?" Nora did a headlock pose and a neck twisting action in her attempts to remind Mary Louise of that night where they found Caius wandering around Mystic Falls.

"Haha Nora, you know we're no angels," they decided to look for Caius at the police station but he wasn't there.

Nora texted him but there was no reply.

They waited that night but Caius didn't return home.


	9. Chapter 9: Hostage!

**Chapter 9: Hostage!**

There was no news from Caius the following day and the day after too. Nora and Mary Louise tried to look for him at the police station again but he wasn't there. Nora dropped a couple of text messages and even tried calling him but the line was always engaged.

"Mare, come and see this! Another three reported cases of corpses with blood drained totally out of them," Nora called out to Mary Louise who was busy in the kitchen trying to make herself and Nora some sandwiches. Nora called out to Mary Louise just as she had finished adding the slices of tomatoes into the sandwiches. She brought out the sandwiches and a jug of orange juice to the living room with a tray.

 _[Afternoon News]_

 _The police is still investigating and searching for clues to the bizarre murder cases. The police urges the public to stay vigilant to report immediately should they see anything suspicious. Eye witnesses please step forward and contact the police at the below hotline._

 _Moving on to the next news, there has been 5 reported people missing cases, bringing the total to a 20. Police is still investigating….._

"So what do you think of the recent cases?" Nora asked Mary Louise.

"The bizarre murder cases or the missing people?" Mary Louise casually asked as she handed a glass of orange juice to Nora.

"Could they both be linked?" the thought just hit Nora and she started hurling her conspiracy theories to Mary Louise but they all didn't make any sense.

"Who knows, they might be," Mary Louise shrugged.

She didn't put much thoughts into the cases that had happened for the past few days as she was more focused on trying to be accustomed to a new environment with Nora. Everything was new here. The environment, the people and the way they had to hunt. There was no Lily monitoring and there were no free blood bags that they would take for granted. They had much more free reigns to do what they wanted and had to keep themselves in check as they didn't want to run rampant.

"We definitely need to attend Green Woods celebrations later," Nora bit into a sandwich as she changed the channels.

"We just need to figure out what is happening and if Caius doesn't appear soon, we should just use a locator spell," she continued all the while channel surfing.

"Sure, anything my dear. The locator spell is not too difficult at all since this house is filled with his personal belongings. I will prepare the ritual so that we can locate him after…brunch," Mary Louise smiled to herself as she used the new term that she had just picked up.

"Oh, and the package that you ordered this morning just arrived. I left it on the dressing table in our bedroom," Mary Louise casually remarked while sipping orange juice.

"Great!" Nora jumped to her feet and soon she was already upstairs unwrapping the parcel.

 _ **Hours Later**_

"So how do I look?" she paraded in front of the full length mirror and turned a few circles.

"Stunning! You look gorgeous Nora," Mary Louise praised as she entered the room and caught her in a beautiful dress. Mary Louise loved the dress that Nora was in. It was a short green one; just above knee length and it bared her shoulders. The cloth wrapped around her body curves perfectly. A conservative Mary Louise wouldn't wear it but she found it super sexy on Nora.

She crept behind Nora and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind. She gently kissed the back of Nora's right shoulder before she leaned her chin on her shoulders and admired her beauty via the mirror.

"Oh, really…" Nora felt her cheeks burned as she felt Mary Louise's gaze fall upon her.

"Which accessory should I go with it?" she clasped Mary Louise's hands. "I'm trying to decide between the star and the pony necklace. The star necklace is so pretty but the pony one is just so cute."

Mary Louise smiled while taking in the details.

"I would go with the star necklace –" she angled her chin that was rested on Nora's shoulder to look at her neck, "but the pony necklace works just as well." She kissed Nora's neck before she hugged her from behind.

Nora smiled as she stroked Mary Louise's arms that were wrapped around her waist and she turned to meet her kisses.

* * *

 _ **ENGLAND 1903**_

 _KNOCK_

 _KNOCK KNOCK_

The door swung opened to reveal a slender young man, the second youngest of the Masons.

"Why, how can I help you Benjamin?" Nora asked as she looked at the beamy young man at the door.

"Hello Nora, my apologies for visiting at this hour. Did I catch you at a bad time?" he politely asked.

"No, no, I was just reading a few poetry before heading to bed. What brings you here?" Nora asked.

"Well…," he took a deep breath as he prepared himself.

"I was wondering if you will be interested to catch a play with me tomorrow night at the Grand Theatre? There is a famous performance group who has stopped by town and I managed to get priority seats. Would you like to catch the play with me? You would, wouldn't you? Please catch the play with me?" he blushed just as his eyes caught Nora's.

Nora was at a loss of words and she returned her attention to the gentleman. "Benjamin, did I hear you right? I always thought that you were courting Mary Louise?" she asked.

"No! No, you have mistaken. I was just trying to be friendly towards Mary Louise as we have a few topics in common. Please, don't be mistaken Nora," he panicky explained before giving an awkward smile.

"Oh, then what have you all been discussing all along?" Nora curiously asked.

Benjamin paused for a moment, as though contemplating whether to reply and just before he did, they heard a few loud bangs from a room at the end of the door way and a scream echoed through the corridors.

The whole household was suddenly on alert.

Mr Mason sped past Nora's room, followed by Brandon, Julian and Mary Louise. Nora went after Mary Louise and Benjamin tagged along, following behind Nora. When Mr Mason pushed opened the door, it was a messy sight. Some of the tables and chairs were smashed into pieces and some had their legs thorn or ripped off. In the farthest corner of the room were two figures, one standing and another on the ground.

They followed behind Mr Mason and moved in for a clearer view and there they saw a chamber maid motionless on the ground and with a stake through her heart. The standing figure was Brian and he held another stake in his hand and wore a menacing smile.

"Brian! Control yourself!" Mr Mason roared in anger.

 _CRACK_

Brian brought down the stake into the heart of the lifeless body and everyone watched in shock. There was a light thud on her shoulders as Brandon gently moved Nora aside and charged forward with Mr Mason to subdue Brian.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT**_

Caius woke to find himself in the corner of the room with both his arms chained to the room's walls. It was a small rectangular dark room that was connected to another room. He could see some light but he could not see clearly what was in the other room. The chains rattled as he struggled to free himself from the chains that bounded him to the walls as he surveyed the small room for clues.

"Hey you're finally awake! I was starting to think that you might have died," A voice at the other side of the room spoke.

He blinked a few times to get a clearer vision but there was nobody in the room with him. The past 24 hours had been a torturous one. He had gone through much torture till his body hurt so badly that he could no longer tell where he was injured anymore as his whole body hurt.

He heard footsteps approaching him and he leaned towards the wall to lift his head up to see his kidnapper.

"Hey hello! You're awake. It took a while but I'm glad that you're still alive," the blonde squatted and held onto his jaws.

"Has the vervain subsided already?" he asked curiously.

"I sure hope it has since the hard way is not working on you. You sure can take punches," he jokingly commended the prisoner.

He lifted the prisoner's jaws and looked into his eyes, "Shall we begin?"

"Tell me Caius, who are the two vampires that came along with you?" the blonde asked.

Caius looked into the dazzling dark blue eyes but returned a bright smile and said nothing.

"God dammit! Just how much vervain have you consumed!" the frustrated blonde left the room and returned with a bat. "Boy! You better speak now before you can speak no more," the blonde threatened Caius and pointed the bat at him.

Caius forced another bright smile at the blonde and the next he knew, the bat went down hard on his shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10: The Chase

**THE PLOT SO FAR:** Lily sent Mary-Louise and Nora to "assist" Caius and to solve the murder cases that happened during one of the shindigs that was held by The Heretics. The trio arrived in Green Woods Town where there was an unusual amount of missing people and where victims were drained of their blood. Mary-Louise and Nora received an invitation to the Green Woods Anniversary celebrations and prepare themselves for it. Meanwhile, Caius was held captive by a blonde in a dark room and was tortured and badly beaten.

* * *

 **Chapter 10: The Chase**

The town hall is located at the outskirts of town. There were ample grounds surrounding the building as it was buzzling with activity. A magnitude of colourful tents were set up not only for performers to rest but there were also many make-shift tents near water sources for chefs to cook and to prepare dishes on the spot.

The aroma of roasted chicken filled the nostrils of Mary-Louise and Nora as they passed the chef and his grills but the duo did not flinch when they passed the sizzling roasted chicken. They calmly showed their invitation card to the ushers who were at the entrance before entering the Town Hall. Inside were rows and rows of long table and chairs and most of the seats were already occupied. A stage was erected at the far end and one of the performances where a group of masked figures doing stunts looked like it was about to come to an end.

"Let us now welcome the Mayor of Green Woods Town", the commentator blasted. Both Mary-Louise and Nora took the nearest seats available and listened.

"It is my honour to be part of this 100th year anniversary celebrations. Enjoy yourselves and have a memorable night…"

A shadow passed the 2nd storey corridor of the Town Hall and it caught both Mary-Louise and Nora's attention due to its inhuman speed.

"Did you catch it?" Mary-Louise replied. "Someone just sped into hiding."

"Dammit Mare, were we being watched all along?" Nora exclaimed.

"It was a grey hood right?" Nora continued

They quickly left the masses on the ground floor and moved towards the nearest exit to get to the 2nd storey. There were 2 security guards guarding the stairways whom they had to compel to pass.

Mary-Louise looked around in her attempts to trace the hooded figure.

"Well, hello Nora, it's been a while", the duo stopped in their tracks and turned towards the familiar voice.

Nora turned to face a familiar masculine face.

"Oh!"

"Benjamin Mason? What are you doing here?" Nora was surprised and looked at him in amusement.

"Of course to attend the celebrations!" Benjamin beamed. "How long has it been? Almost a century? How have you been? My god, you look just as gorgeous as before. You're amazing…"

"…and so is Mary-Louise too. Well, hello Mary-Louise," Benjamin added after he caught sight of the inpatient figure next to Nora.

"Hello Benjamin Mason," Mary-Louise coldly replied while she kept her eyes fixed across the corridor where she thought she last saw the shadowy figure. She briefly caught sight of the shadow again and this time, she sped full speed towards it.

Nora sped after her with Benjamin following.

* * *

 _ **ENGLAND 1903**_

Mary-Louise, Nora, Julian and Benjamin gave chase too and they sped into the woods. Mr Mason and Brandon were far ahead from the pack as they reacted almost immediately and sped off after Brian Mason. It was a rough forest trek covered by shrubs and loosened earth as they entered deeper into the forest.

The winding forest trails made the chase all the more difficult. Nora stumbled once but Mary-Louise caught her just before she regained footing. That slight delay, however, allowed for the two Masons to disappear in sight as they speed full vamp speed ahead.

"NOOO!" a voice echoed throughout the forest as the pack continued the search.

"Over there!" Mary-Louise pointed and the pack sped towards the source with Julian in the lead.

"Someone is over there," Julian alerted as he vamp speed toward a body that was face down on the forest floor.

"Brandon! Brandon!" Julian flipped him over and attempted to wake him.

"Is he alright?" Mary-Louise caught up just after Julian.

"Julian! There's a stake protruding from his chest!" she pointed in shock.

"No! Brandon!" Benjamin exclaimed as he sped over to knee beside him.

"Missed the heart by a few inches," Julian assured as he pulled out the stake.

"Brandon!" Benjamin shook Brandon by the shoulders. "Brian…" he weakly muttered before slipping back into unconsciousness.

"He's in good hands," Julian assured automatically even before Benjamin asked. Benjamin sped off.

"Girls help him out", Julian continued.

Mary-Louise and Nora gave chase behind Benjamin.

 _Swooooosh_

The duo continued on and followed Benjamin while he headed towards the direction of the nearest commotion. Just as they proceeded nearer, Nora could briefly make out three figures in the distance. Two looked as though they were wrestling with each other as there was constant push and pull movement while the third was motionless on the ground. The nearer they were, the louder the sounds of breaking bones they could hear as the two men brutally fought each other.

"NO! FATHER!" Benjamin yelled in despair as they approached the motionless body on the ground.

Laying motionless on the ground was Mr Mason. A stake was right through his heart and his last moments were one with pain as his face was twisted with mouth opened widely.

Benjamin stood in despair and he dashed towards the fighting duo.

Brian's face was bloodied and his jaw was crushed. His shirt was bloodied and filled with soil, he was badly injured but he continued to fight on. Grappling and punching with all his might whenever he could. Bruce's shirt was bloodied, had a badly bruised eye and suffered a few broken bones, which was evident in his slower than usual reflexes when battling Brian, but he battled on. Brian gripped Bruce by his shirt and lifted and threw him with all his might.

 _Thud_

Benjamin broke his fall as Bruce crushed head-on into him. Mary-Louise immediately went over to check on both brothers while Nora was trying hard to absorb what have happened so far.

* * *

 _ **PRESENT**_

"Just like old times", Benjamin murmured as he paced the ladies.

However, this time round, Mary-Louise took the lead.

"So what are we up against?" Benjamin uttered while following.

"He seems a little…deliberate, don't you think so Mare," Nora spoke loud enough for Mary-Louise to catch.

"Pardon me but care to fill me in on what we are about to do?" Benjamin interrupted and reminded the ladies of his presence.

"We're playing catch," Mary-Louise nonchalantly replied.

"Short and sweet, the same old same old Mary-Louise that I know," Benjamin remarked.

"Roger that!" he sped ahead.

The trio sped across the Town Hall and passed many buildings and districts till they arrived at the gates of a grandeur mansion. It was quieter for the area as the mansion was near a forest and in the more secluded area of town.

"The Mayor's Mansion?" Benjamin looked at both ladies in shock as their eyes trail the name signage at the gates.

"Ouch!" he shouted out loud in pain as his palms burnt when pushed the gates. "It's coated with Vervain!"

Nora was surprised for a moment but she garnered herself and chanted a spell that automatically unlocked the gates.

She then proceeded and passed Benjamin.

"Well, ladies first then," Benjamin forced a smile as he trailed after them.

They crossed a flowery garden and reached a porch decorated with pots of different flowers.

Taking a deep breath, Nora stepped into the mansion.

"Well that's new. I was expecting myself to be repelled," she looked at Mary-Louise from the foyer.

"Is this not the mayor's mansion?" Mary-Louise questioned Benjamin.

"It definitely is as it's written on the signage at the entrance," Benjamin added.

Mary-Louise glared at Benjamin's reply. "Yikes, I'll stop with the obvious," he murmured.

"Mary Lou, can you smell that?" Nora interrupted as she already made her way more than half way across the foyer of the grandeur mansion.

"The stench of blood…its everywhere," she continued. "To think that the mayor's mansion is the hide-out.."

"Nora and I will be searching here," Mary-Louise pointed. "Why don't you search over there," she casually pointed in a random direction before moving away from Benjamin.

Taking her spot next to Nora, they were just about to enter one of the rooms when the curses of Benjamin stopped them.

"My gosh, the doors and knobs are coated with vervain," he yelled in pain and staggered backwards towards the wall.

"Ouch! Not the window grills too!" He yelled in agony.

They smirked and enjoyed watching Benjamin screaming in pain.

"Hey milady, you still owe me a handshake," it echoed from the end of the hall way.

Shocked by the echoes, Benjamin immediately sprung around and searched frantically for a non-existent figure.

"Over there!" Nora pointed and both Mary-Louise and Benjamin trailed the echo voice and passed a few corridors into a room that resembles that of a huge dining area.

The room was spacious and had only an oval-shaped wooden table in the middle of the room with a few wooden chair surrounding it. It was a dimly lit room but these did not deter Mary-Louise and Nora. A cloaked figure, face covered by the hood, sat at the end of the table.

"Finally caught up. Not running away anymore?" Mary-Louise's voice boomed across the room.

"Tsk! How dare you ignore us," Nora added.

"Will I get my handshake?" the cloaked figure remarked and removed the hood that covered his face.

"Brian…" Benjamin whispered in disbelief.

"Brian?" he went a second time.

"BRIAN!" Benjamin shouted the name from across the room and readied himself a dash stance.

"How are you doing Ben?" Brian smirked.

Mary-Louise looked at Ben, she had never seen him that agitated and angry before and he was ready to dash.

"Ben, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Brian warned.

"My friends will be very displeased.."

 _Bang_

They turned to see the doors slammed shut behind them just as he finished his sentence.

Click click click click click

"Mary Lou, there are projectiles pointed at us," Nora warned as she watched the brick walls moved and a hundred protruding projectiles pointing at them from the holes.

Brian snapped his fingers once.

"Ugh" Benjamin went on a knee and he pulled the dart out from his right thigh and threw it to the ground.

"What the hell, come fight me one on one you coward," he cursed while kneeling on the knee.

Benjamin tried to stand but he dropped back into a kneeling pose.

"Get back up on your feet and fight!" Mary-Louise shouted.

"I want to but I can't. Its vervain coated mixed with something else...I can't feel my leg," he punched the floor with his fist and sat on the ground.

Click click click click click

The sound of gadgets echoed loudly as it auto loaded.

"Who's next?" Brian asked as he made his way closer.

Both Mary-Louise and Nora turned to face Brian.


End file.
